Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a strong pitch for greater integration of the South Asian region, even as she underscored the need for speedy implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) agreement.

Increasing regional integration through enhanced role of private sector and cooperation in areas like trade, energy security and connectivity will help South Asian nations boost economic growth, says a report.

No assurance was given by the Pakistan government on Tuesday for granting India the Most Favoured Nation trade status, almost a year after it missed the deadline to do so in order to normalise bilateral trading relations.

Promotion of trade among SAARC countries is one of the top priorities of the government, said Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar talking to Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody High Commissioner of Sri Lanka.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harvest Tradings Ahmed Jawad has said that to boost the trade with the neighbouring country the government needed to review the Pak-India trade agreement. Talking to INP here on Sunday, Ahmed Jawad said that there was no other option than enhancing trade to normalise the bilateral political and diplomatic relations with India.

The Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan could not prove instrumental in increasing agriculture exports to India, observed a report sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

There are several safeguarding measures under WTO regime to save industry even after normalisation of trade with India, as delay in this regard will jeopardise the process of liberalisation of trade between the two neighbours.

Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India rose nearly 20 per cent to more than US$ 4.50 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2011-12 following reduction of sensitive lists by the relevant authorities in both the countries in late 2011.

Businessmen and traders of Pakistan and India have agreed that infrastructure bottlenecks are hindering the growth in trade relations between the two sides and these should be removed to deepen the ties.

The decision taken by Pakistan and India to scale down tariff to a maximum of 5% and remove all non-tariff barriers (NTBs) by 2020 will lead to regional integration, according to an official of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Domestic manufacturers are having nightmares as the tariffs of imported finished goods from South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) member countries would come down to five percent from the next fiscal year, while the duties on raw materials used to produce same products remain much higher, an official said on Saturday.

Indian market has huge potential for Pakistani items, but experts are discussing India’s import impact on domestic economy, ignoring the potential of services sector exports to that country, according to speakers of a seminar on Thursday.

The government has decided to exclude financial services from the SAARC agreement on trade in services, following strong objection from the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI. The central bank has argued that India has already allowed access to foreign banks under the World Trade Organization agreement.